Kids Keepsake

 

KIDS HANDPRINT KEEPSAKE CARD

Now THIS was a quick card to make!  I can't take credit for the design - I saw it on Pinterest and HAD to give it a go.

Brin helped me with it a little - I think this is a terrific project to share with a child.  You don't have to stamp the greetings, your child could write it.  And they can embellish it any way they want!

Fantastic for mother's day, birthdays, christmas.  I just decided to make them for no good reason other than I think Brin's grandparents and aunts and uncles will get a kick out of it :)

Using chipboard, trace around your little one's hand and cut out to create a template.  Really you could use anything, even newspaper, but I like the idea of using something as tough as chipboard so that it doesn't move around when you're tracing around it, plus it lasts and can be potentially kept as my OWN keepsake :)

Place the traced hand onto your chosen paper and cut out two hands.  If you're using paper that has a different colour on each side, make SURE that you appear to have a left hand and a right hand otherwise they won't go together!

Use a 30 x 5cm strip of cardstock as the middle of your card.  Consatina it, folding every 3cm.  You want the two ends to be folded in the same direction, per the picture above.

Stamp the greeting "I Love You" on the hand that will be the front of your card.  Stamp the greeting "this much" in the way you prefer, such as above, across one side of your folded cardstock. 

Alternatively, your child can write the greetings.  Brin "helped" me stamp, thus the very rustic look hehe!

Attach the folded cardstock to the "inside" of the hands, as shown above., with the "this" end of the card attached to the inside of the front hand.  If you want to put a greeting, you can do what I did and put it on the back of the card.  I had Brin write his name on the back

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Embellish as you, or your child, want - this is what I threw together quickly!

Happy Clapping!

Dani :)

Kids Corny Cards

ANIMAL JOKE MINI BIRTHDAY CARDS

I've been busy busy busy in recent weeks with my son, which got me thinking I don't really make that many kids cards - challenge accepted!

Being a weekend chock-full of soccer, I had limited time to get stuff done so went for some very simplistic but cute cards.  Plus kids are not so gentle, let's be honest.  Once I spent DAYS making my son a giant (binder sized), super amazing mickey mouse card with disney characters that sprung out when he opened it.  He destroyed it in the blink of an eye.  He now appreciates even the most basic card that I make - he's at an age where they're ALL amazing to him!  I love that :)

No step by step photos for this lot, but it's not really necessary.  The animals were made with die cutters and my cuttlebug - Lion, Dog and Kangaroo are Cuttlekids dies (why should kids have all the fun??) and the Penguin is by QuicKutz.  The rest is faily self explanatory, with die-cut animals stuck to white card, stuck to colour card, stuck to base card.  I then found some corny animal jokes on the internet and, after typing it up and print it out, I put the question on the front and the answer (plus Happy Birthday!!) on the inside.

Finished up with some cute little buttons (one of my favourite embellishments!) and jewels :)


Kids could easily make cards like this too!

The (terrible) jokes I used are as follows:

Q:  On what day do Lions eat people?

A:  Chewsday!

Q:  What do Penguins sing on a Birthday?

A:  "Freeze a jolly good fellow!"

Q:  What do you get when you cross a Kangaroo and a Sheep?

A:  A woolley jumper!

Q:  What dog loves bubble baths?

A:  A Shampoodle!!

Happy Joking!

Dani :)

When I can't sleep ...

SPOTTY CARD

 

This is a great card to make when you're in a hurry!  Quick and simple but a card that will please most people - suitable for babies, girls, grown up women and even (with the right browns and blues) guys.

You can change so many aspects of the design, based on the size of the card, the size and shape of the greeting, the papers you use (cork for men is awesome!) and how you want to embellish it.  When I make this card, the spots are always the same size (roughly 2cm diameter).  I alter where and how I have the ribbon, the style of the greeting, the types of buttons...

I made this at 1 in the morning so bear with me!

First of all, punch out a bunch of circles - don't worry about how many, do plenty so you can pick and choose colours and be able to muck around with the layout - so aim to have too many.

Ink the edges of the dots.

Get a small piece of card, suited to the size of your greeting.  Stamp the greeting!

I then chose to round the corners of the greeting, ink the edges and pop a tiny bit of bling on it :)

I generally mount my greeting for this card on foam tape.  In this instance, I mounted the left hand side onto with foam tape.

Create a loopy piece of ribbon.  To do this, I cut a decent legth of ribbon, stuck one end on a paper reamer (big fat needly thing!).  I then looped the ribbon back and forth, giving each loop a little more length (well, that was my intention but I ran out of ribbon!)

Firmly holding the ribbon in place, remove the reamer and put a mini brad through the hole.  Doesnt matter what colour, it will be covered up!

Figure out where you want your greeting and place the foam tape on the left end of where the greeting will sit.  Place some double sided tape along the rest of the length and add a dollop of glue for good luck!  Stick your loops on top.

 

Put some more double sided tape on the back of your greeting, pop a dollop of glue at the end with the loops and stick it down!  Hold it down for a while to make sure it stays where it should :)

Arrange your dots!  Stick them down with double sided tape :)

Pop a few buttons in the centre of some of the dots.  I used teeny tiny cuties, but you can use bigger buttons :)  I also rounded the edges of my card, given the "roundness" of the theme of the card.

Happy Spotting!

Dani :)

 

 

 



Dressed Up Window Card

 

 

HEART-SHAPED WINDOW CARD

It's Mum's Day so I treated myself to some time in peace and quiet, tinkering at my desk.  I am definitely feeling the love today so went for a lovey theme!

I really enjoyed making this card because it's a quick and simple card but so dimensional and sweet!  You could trade the little hearts for butterflies or whatever shape you want, likewise the window.

I have used a Nestabilities set, however there are all kinds of dies and punches you could use for this - I've got some cute leaf punches so I'm thinking an autumn themed card like this might be my next project :)

 

First of all you need two pieces of white card - one that is 20x10cm (which you fold in half to be the card) and another 10cm square, which will be the front of the card.

After you have folded the piece of card in half, open it up and lay it out on your cuttlebug, lay the square card on top, exactly how it will sit once it is stuck on.  Centre the Nestabilities heart shaped cutting die (I used the second largest) on top of the square and cards and carefully run through the cuttlebug.

This will cut through the main card and the square piece that will mount on the front.

Using some red card, use the snallest Nestability heart and cut out eight hearts.

Cut some nylon or cotton white thread - 3 lengths of about 15cm.  Turn your hearts upside down and on four of them place some double sided tape going up the centre of the hearts.  Place your thread along the centre of the heart (as above) and place another piece of double sided tape on top, going across the widest part of the heart - this will make sure the hearts stick together properly and hold the thread in place.

You want the hearts to be laid out per this photo.

2 of the threads will have the heart towards the top of the string (make sure there is a good inch or so of thread above the heart.  The other thread has two hearts on it, about halfway along with a centimetre or so between the hearts.

Turn over your square piece of card and lay down plenty of double sided tape.  Pull the threads taut as you position as above.  The threads needs tension so that the hearts are suspended properly.  Don't cut off the extra lengths of thread.

Lay lots more tape on top of the last lot - yes, I'm paranoid about threads pulling free - and then stick the excess thread back on top of that.  Trimming the threads short will just encourage them to eventually wiggle loose - this way, you're making TRIPLE sure that everything is secure!

Now carefully line up and stick together the square card and the main card, so that the large hearts match up neatly.

That's basically it!

As you can see, I have chosen to stamp a sentiment inside - I like the look of it, but you don't have to put a sentiment on it if you don't want.

I just close up the card and lay it flat and then mark with a pencil, between the two centre hearts, where I want the sentiment to be.  Then open her up and stamp!

Any additional greetings and writing, I think would be better on the back of the card so as to not ruin the visual effects.

Happy Cutting!!!

Dani :)

My Brave Boy

My 5 year old is going into hospital on Thursday to get grommets and have his adenoids removed. He's understandably nervous so I quickly threw together this card for him (to take my mind off my own anxiety!!)

It's by no means award winning, but I think it will help conjure a smile or two as he recovers :)

Cascade Card

MOTHER'S DAY CASCADE CARD

Since Mother's Day is fast approaching, I thought I'd try and create something a little special.

Being a Pinterest Junkie, I had seen gorgeous cascade cards absolutely overflowing with flowers and butterflies and ribbons and detail.  But I hadn't attempted it because that made me nervouis - whenever I go for insane complicated detail, it comes off looking like crap, frankly!

So, I decided to at least give cascade cards a go but keep them fairly simple - I think it still looks cute :)

PS:  My camera battery was flat this morning so the step by step photos were taken with my iphone - they'll have to do!

 

First I took two pieces of card 15cm by 26cm.  On one of the short ends, I marked a spot 8cm from the bottom.  I them trimmed from a top corner on a diagonal to the 8cm mark.  This is essential for the "cascade" look (taller at the back, shorter at the front).

I then folded each piece of card in half (as you can see in the picture above) and then found the half way mark on either side of the fold and ruled a line from top to bottom.  I found the halfway mark of those lines, marked it, and cut to that halfway mark.

IMPORTANT:  you need to cut the slits in the paper from the TOP of one piece of card and front the BOTTOM of the other so that they can be slotted together.

Erase the lines you've drawn.

 

Now you need your coloured/patterned paper to begin dressing up the card.  You need a piece for each visible section of the card, so TWO (2) of each of the following:

• 5.5cm x 13.5 (you then want to reduce the length of one side to 12cm, sloping just like the main card)
• 5.5cm x 12cm (you then want to reduce the length of one side to 10.5cm, sloping just like the main card)
• 5.5cm x 10.5cm (you then want to reduce the length of one side to 9cm, sloping just like the main card)
• 5.5cm x 8.5cm (you then want to reduce the length of one side to 7cm, sloping just like the main card)

Very important to remember when making the two sets that one set will slope to the left and one set will slope to the right!!

I then inked the edges of the pieces with a similar coloured ink.  I've gone for the messy look because...well...honestly, I slipped!

Now you stick them on!  You have to have the two smaller sized pieces stuck on the OPPOSITE side to the taller pieces bceause once it is folded and slotted together, those are the sides you will see.

Before I stuck everything on, I actually assembled the card and then put a pencil dot in the middle of each visible section so that I knew which to paper and which to leave blank.

That said, if you want the back to look pretty too, you could just do twice as much of everything!

 

Assemble the card!!

To make sure that it stays in place once it was sitting right, I cut out a 10cm x 10cm piece of patterned paper and used double sided tape along either side of the join at the back of the card and stuck the paper to it.  This stops it all from wriggling.

It also means that only the middle of the 10x10 piece of paper is stuck down - I avoid sticking down edges when working on a fold, to ensure the card still opens and closes as it should.

 

Next, cut out butterflies and/or flowers with Cuttlebug / punch / whatever.  I stuck them together ( see above) and adorned them with jewels.

 

Next, stick them onto your cascading card along with a selection of other flowers.  What flowers and what layout of them you have is up to the individual - I hope you're all less chicken than me and have that wonderful ability to go crazy and be creative!

And you don't just need to stick stuff to the front of the panels, you can stick stuff to the back as well to add to the dimensional look of the card!  As this was my first attempt, I kept it simple.

Next punch out 3 scalloped circles (or just 3 circle!) and gently, lightly pat some ink of a similar colour around the edge to give it a nice mottled look.

 

I used my computer to print out some little circles with Happy Mum's Day on them (one word on each).  I did "Mum's" instead of "Mother's" so that I could keep the font a reasonable size and consistent between the three circles.  I made the lines around the circles, and the font, a similar colour to the scalloped circles.

Stick the circles onto the scalloped circles.

 

Now it's just a case of completing the assembly!  Since I was keeping it basic and not wanting to overflower it, I filled little annoying gaps with some little jewels and pearls.

What you can do with these cards is limited only by your own creativity!  (as you can see LOL)

Happy Cascading!

Dani :)

 

UPDATE!

6 May 2012

My second attempt - slightly more compact and much more flowery :)

New Baby Birds

LITTLE BIRDY NEW BABY CARD

Congratulations to my dear friend Melissa!!

 

No step by step photos this time, peeps, sorry!  It's pretty simple though :)

(Incidentally, if you're not into stamps and colouring, you can buy these kaisercraft sets as stickers!)

1. Fold a 21 x 15cm piece of pink card in half
2. Cut a piece of watercolour card to be about 9.5 x 12cm
3. Using KaiserCraft Fine & Sunny stamp collection, stamp the row of flags at the top and the three little birds at the bottom.  I have used a corner rounder and inked the edges also
4. Colour the stamps in your favourite method, in this instance I have employed my usual technique of colouring with water soluble pens and an aqua brush - very simply doing a bright single layer colouring and then using the pen tip of the markers to accent the top edge of each flag and then bottom V of each flag.  I also used the pen tip to accent the underneath of birds and their wings and tails
5. Cut another piece of watercolour card (only so that it matches the main piece) 4 x 8cm.  Cut a piece of pink card (the same as your main card) 5 x 9cm.  Round the corners on both
6. Put lettering or greeting on the small white card.  I have used chipboard stickers that are covered in fabric (pre-made because I don't have THAT much time!!) but you can stamp or use rub-ons or stickers etc
7. Embellish with sparklies and use doublesided tape to stick the small white card to the front of the small pink card and then the pink card to the centre of the large white card
8. Stick the large white card to the main pink card using double sided tape.  Keep the top, left and right margins even so that there is a large margin below.
9. Punch two holes evenly at the bottom of the card.  I have actually (stupidly) done mine too big.  Smaller is better!  It's fiddly to get the ribbon through but holds the ribbon in place better.
10. Choose your ribbon!  I've used a gauzy yellow ribbon and a thin pink ribbon and I threaded them through a diamante buckle first.
11. Poke the ends of these ribbons through the holes from front to make then cross them over at the back and tug them back through the opposite holes.  If they don't stay in place on their own (mine didn't this time!) then hold down at the back with some clear gift wrapping tape
12. Trim the ribbon and seal the ends with either glue or a bic lighter (gently and carefully, to melt the ends - sometimes this DOESN'T work!) to prevent the ends from fraying
13. Done!

Here's another card I made with the same stamp set :)  Pretty self explanatory but feel free to ask any questions!

Happy Carding!!

Dani :)

Australiana - Gumnut Babies

GUMNUT BABIES CARD

A Little Piece of an Australian Childhood

Snugglepot and Cuddlepie by Mae Gibbs is one of my all-time favourite books.  Even now as a grown up, I quite happily read it to myself at least once a year - it's just such sweet and beautiful story-telling.  And the illustrations, also by Mae Gibbs, are also magic :)

I did have to search hard for these stamps and it was some time ago so I honestly can't remember where I got them.  But Google can find some amazing things!  That said, you could find other stamps all over the place of just gumnuts and other Australiana that you could incorporate into this style of card.  It's a very basic design so you could do anything!

 

First of all, on watercolour card, stamp your image with StazOn black ink.  Use watercolour technique to colour it (or whatever kind of colouring you want really!  Trim the card up (I trimmed mine so that the branch of the gumleaves would appear to continue off the page), round the edges if you want to, and ink the edges.  I have inked with a nice olive colour.

 

Next, punch three holes in the bottom right corner of the image.  You could of course use a regular hole punch, however I like the more therapeutic method of whacking a special punch with a hammer!!  These tools are part of an eyelet setting tool kit.

 

Using either twine, string or thread - fold your twine in half and poke the loop through the hole so that it comes out the front of the card.

Now poke the straggly bits through the loop and pull gently until it looks like the picture below:

 

Repeat for all three holes.  Don't trim the twine yet - wait until the card is assembled so you can gauge how long you want them to be.

 

Now gather the other parts of your card.  Backing card, which I am doing in a nice olive/gumleaf green.  I trimmed this to be 5mm wider all around than the gumnut baby card and rounded the corners on it also.  Ink the edges in a similar colour to give that slightly "shadowed" effect.

Also have your folded card ready.  It needs to be a cenimetre taller and about 2.5 - 3cm wider than your green backing card.

 

Assemble the card, as above, using double-sided tape. Keep to the left side so that the amount of card around the green is even above, left and below.  There needs to be an "excess" to the right.

 

Because I rounded the corners on my other pieces of card, I have chosen to round the corners on the main card also, but only the right-hand corners.

This is also the time to decide what length/s you want your twine to be and trim accordingly.

 

Stamp a little heart in the top left corner of your illustrated card.

 

Stamp your greeting on the right edge of the card.

 

And there it is - a heart-warming little piece of an Australian childhood!

Happy Stamping!

Dani :)

First iPhone Post!

Having a muck around with blogging from my iPhone!

Following on from my layered butterfly card, my mum said a butterfly mobile would be cute for my niece-on-the-way.

Challenge accepted!

Here is a prototype I'm starting with and refining: